1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the testing of telephone lines, in general, and to the testing of such lines as used in voice and data transmission for both personal and business users, in particular.
2. Description of the Related Art
With the advent of deregulation in the telephone industry has come the need to determine whether a problem on a line is external to a structure (and, therefore, the obligation of the telephone company to correct) or internal to the structure (and, thusly, the responsibility of the end-user to deal with). Network interface devices developed to address this concern commonly employ anywhere from 1 to 200 modular jacks as test access ports, depending upon whether the monitoring is of a line that may be present in a residence, or at a business location. Whether or not the modular jack is of an RJ 11 type carrying 2 conductors, or whether it is of an RJ 45 type carrying 8 or 9 conductors, and whether or not the network interface devices additionally incorporate such other features as surge suppression or lightning, over-current or over-voltage suppression controls, the ever increasing competition in the telephone industry requires that the costs associated with these devices be kept as low as possible. These costs include, not only the manufacturing costs of the units, but the installation costs, as well, in addition to the costs connected with their actual use in testing the problem on the line.